Dear Church Family,
I read the following words of Charles Spurgeon at the start of worship this last Lord’s Day:
O Lord, teach us this very morning the art of praise. Let our soul take fire,
and like a censer full of frankincense, may our whole nature send forth a delicious
perfume of praiseful gratitude unto the ever blessed One, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This amazing statement points out many principles that help better worship God. Let’s unpack the power of these 45 words, so we might weekly, daily and moment by moment, give God the glory that He alone deserves as we worship Him.
God alone must be the object of our worship. To worship anything else but the true and living God constitutes idolatry – a gross sin of which no one wants to be guilty. Worship requires the discipline to focus on God – His character and all He has done. Letting our minds wander to lesser things is not an option. This is why Spurgeon describes worship as “the art of praise.” It requires practice with purpose. True art does not simply happen. Any acclaimed artist plans his efforts and employs painstaking diligence to produce a beautiful work.
God-honoring worship involves a cost. The phrase “Let our soul take fire” shows worship runs on the energy of the heart and the body. Knowing God’s love has been showered on the worshiper leads him to respond in love to the God who has first loved him. That divine love stirs the emotions, as the head informs the heart anew of how deep God’s is the measure of God’s love. Remember that this Sunday as we sing, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling!”
As we offer heart-felt and Gospel-informed worship to God, our Maker enjoys it as “a delicious perfume of praiseful gratitude.” Our worship must have a Trinitarian focus. We sing and pray to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We worship in Spirit and in truth.
May our lives daily and our gathered worship practice the art of praise!
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin